Bias allegations against judge go to Supreme Court
OTTAWA, January 14, 2014 — A case involving an Ottawa judge’s angry outburst toward a self-represented defendant following an allegation of a conflict of interest was filed at the Supreme Court of Canada on January 7.
Justice Robert Beaudoin threatened defendant Denis Rancourt with contempt of court following Mr. Rancourt’s request to bring a motion regarding the judge’s alleged appearance of bias due to his emotional and financial connections to a party in a lawsuit (the University of Ottawa) and family connection to the law firm representing it, then abruptly withdrew from the case.
Rancourt’s application states that seven judges, up to the court of appeal, have “refused to duly consider and properly apply the facts” of Justice Beaudoin’s appearance of conflict of interest, such that Beaudoin’s decisions released both before and after his recusal from the case still stand and have tainted a subsequent ruling dismissing Rancourt’s motion to declare the University of Ottawa’s unlimited funding of the plaintiff’s legal costs improper and thus end the lawsuit.
Mr. Rancourt’s application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is available at: https://archive.org/details/Post20140106SCCApplicationALLALLAsSevedRed
OCLA’s Executive Director Joseph Hickey witnessed Justice Beaudoin’s conduct in court and has provided an affidavit in the Supreme Court application. It is available at: https://ocla.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-01-03-Hickey-affidavit-Rancourt-SCC-application.pdf
About the Ontario Civil Liberties Association
OCLA is an organization formed to defend civil liberties at a time when fundamental freedoms are subjected to systemic erosion in all spheres of social life. OCLA opposes institutional policies and decisions that remove from the individual his or her personal liberty or exclude the individual from participation in the democratic functions of society.
Contact:
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) https://ocla.ca
613-252-6148 (c)
joseph.hickey@ocla.ca
